A Pop-Culture Podcast

Let’s Talk About The New Star Wars: Rogue One Teaser

Once again let me get this out of the way so we can get into it: AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!1!One!!!!ExclamationPoint!! *Ahem* Better.

I’ll get into the actual breakdown in just a minute, but first I just want to say how exciting it is to get a new Star Wars movie that (as of right now) doesn’t have anything to do with the Skywalker story. I love the world that George Lucas created and between Star Wars Rebels and this we’re starting to really open it up. Even though this (and Rebels) take place just before the events of A New Hope and are about the start of the rebellion they feel fresh and, I don’t know, bigger than the galaxy we’ve been dealing with for 7 previous films and other tv series.

And let’s not sleep on the fact we’re getting what looks like another super badass lady in the leading role. I always felt that Padmé left something to be desired in terms of being a character, but between Rey and Felicity Jones’ Jyn Erso, I feel like we’re getting back on the path that Leia started us on.

I love the look and feel that we get from this teaser too. It’s heavy and dark but without being Grimdark like our much maligned DCEU. This looks like a war has been raging and the people have been beaten and oppressed for too long. It’s time for rebellion.

Without further ado, here’s a brief rundown of what we saw in this teaser:

It all starts with that familiar score.

We see Felicity Jones’ Jyn Erso in handcuffs being escorted through a rebel base. Why the handcuffs? What did she do to get her “arrested” by the rebellion?

While her crimes are being listed we get a great shot of the interior of the rebel base with troops running about, droids (GONK!) and even an X-Wing. Is this the base on Dantooine or maybe Yavin-4?

Next we have our first shot of Genevieve O’Reilly as Mon Mothma. Standing in front of her glowing star map. It’s pretty much the only place she ever is.

A quick shot of Diego Luna’s unknown character as Mon Mothma says that Jyn is reckless and undisciplined. Will he be the love interest? Will there be a love interest? It’d be pretty great if there wasn’t one. No time for love Doctor (Felicity) Jones.

Jyn being a badass and taking out a group of Stormtroopers as she’s saying to Mon Mothma, “This is a rebellion isn’t it? I rebel.” Mothma smiles. F*ck yeah!

Jyn is told of her mission to gather intel on a new super weapon, as we see the focusing dish placed onto the first Death Star while it absolutely dwarfs a couple star destroyers. People will now complain that we’re getting another Death Star, completely missing the point that this is a prequel. The world will keep turning.

We hear an alarm going off at the rebel base as the troops scramble. We get our first full shot of Diego Luna running beside Jyn.

Next we get an absolutely stunning shot of Ben Mendelsohn’s Imperial character in a white uniform with a long white cape. Rad. After doing a little internet digging it may be that he’s part of the ISB (Imperial Security Bureau) or maybe it’s a Grand Admiral uniform like the former EU character Thrawn.

We get a shot of storm troopers patrolling a city (Lothal?) and the feeling that Empire has gotten control of every nook and cranny in the galaxy.

We see Forest Whitaker’s character walking through a pipe/entrance. He gets voiceover now asking someone, “What will you do when they catch you?”

Jyn and Luna are running through an Imperial base perhaps with a droid. The stormtroopers are scrambled. Some might be camouflaged.

We’re treated to the badassery of Donnie Yen space samurai-ing (it’s a thing) a group of Storm Troopers.

Next there’s a large beach battle with a shuttle blowing up, and troopers shooting at rebels.

We see Mendelsohn’s character trailing his dope cape in the water (that shit’ll stain dude) walking up to the battle aftermath with dead Storm Troopers in the water.

A cloaked figure enters a room with Crimson Guard members and kneels. Is this Vader? Maybe an Inquisitor type character that’s going to speak to Vader? Maybe this is Mads Mikkelsen’s character, but I thought I read that he was a member of the squad. I may have the most questions about this one shot.

Next we see the squadron running down the same beach from before but being shot at by new (old) and frankly scarier looking AT-ATs.

This is all over dubbed with Forest Whitaker’s character saying “If you continue to fight, what will you become.” Closing on a shot of Jyn in a Tie Pilot/Death Star trooper uniform.

The last thing we see/hear is the title card with a very cool mash up of the Light Side theme and the Imperial March.

And that’s it, a fantastic trailer that leaves me a bit breathless. I might be more excited for this movie than I am for Episode VIII. What about you guys? Let us know in the comments what you think about this teaser.

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story opens in December in Real D 3D and IMAX 3D.